Former New York state official pleads guilty in ‘pay to play’ scandal

Reporting from Sacramento — 

A former top New York state official with ties to Southern California securities and investment executives pleaded guilty Wednesday to corruption charges in a still-unfolding “pay to play” scandal.

David Loglisci, the chief investment officer at the New York State Comptroller’s office from 2003 to 2007, admitted that he violated public trust by basing investment decisions on whether they would benefit former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi and his political advisor, Henry “Hank” Morris, New York Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo said.

Cuomo, who made his investigation public last spring, said he has been cooperating with California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown in a separate probe on the West Coast. Brown is investigating the role played by politically influential marketing intermediaries, known as placement agents, in multibillion-dollar deals between the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and investment fund managers.

In a statement, Cuomo noted that a “culture of corruption permeated” the $129-billion New York State Common Retirement Fund.

“A former top official overseeing the state’s single largest asset admitted that decisions were driven by politics and greed,” he said.

Cuomo’s two-year investigation, to date, has netted a few prominent California businessmen, who have pleaded guilty to corruption charges in New York and are cooperating in Cuomo’s ongoing probe.

In May, Julio Ramirez of San Marino, a former marketing employee of Wetherly Capital Group in Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to a New York state securities fraud charge.

Ramirez admitted to splitting commission fees with Morris for helping investment funds land New York pension deals.

Morris has pleaded not guilty to a corruption indictment.

In December, Los Angeles venture capitalist and philanthropist Elliott Broidy pleaded guilty to charges that he paid $1 million in gifts to New York officials to win $250 million in investment capital for his private equity fund, Markstone Capital Partners.

Ramirez and Broidy are awaiting sentencing.

marc.lifsher@latimes.com